Spending Diet

Jon and I have decided to try a little spending diet. We started yesterday and for the next two weeks we are only spending money on gas and groceries. Nothing else (well nothing other than our bills of course). I don’t think it will be too hard except it means no shopping here for me…

Target is my weakness. It also means no eating out, which is something we tend to do a lot on the weekends. Today we went to Costco and the grocery store to stock up. Jon made some homemade black bean burgers for dinner and they were delicious. So far so good. :)

I think this two week spending diet will be good for us. It will force us to find other things to do on the weekends besides shopping or eating out and stop me from going to Target when I really don’t need a thing.

We decided we would see how it goes and maybe even try to do it for the whole month of September (We have a mini vacation planned for August so we know we will be eating out and such then).

On a completely different topic, I watched this documentary yesterday. It was really good and totally made me want to go buy a juicer and try it for myself. BUT that would defeat the whole spending diet so I changed my mind. Plus we don’t eat very much meat in the first place. I probably cook chicken maybe once a week/two weeks and I don’t cook red meat at all. I do think I am going to try and make one of these smoothies tomorrow. I’ll let you know what I think. Definitely check out the movie too!

-Lauren-

Just and update of my count down

Only 10 more days until I am officially on summer break! I have a presentation tonight and Thursday night and a final next Tuesday. I have to go to my last class next Thursday to listen to other groups present (my group gets to present this Thursday and get it over with). Then…I’m DONE until August 26th!!

So here is a list of things we hope to accomplish over the summer

• put in wood floors throughout the house
• paint bathroom cabinets
• paint and add crown molding to the kitchen cabinets
• build a pergola over our flagstone patio (this one is mostly on Jon)
• install closet organizers in master closet
• paint the study
• paint the extra bedroom

Yikes, that’s a long list of painting projects! Before I start working down that list, I am going to do some major cleaning out of everything. Then, once I finish up the list I am going to do some shopping for accessories. Here is a wish list of things I want to buy for our house soon.

• a chair and ottoman for our bedroom nook
• art work for our bedroom (I am thinking about making something since I don’t want to spend a lot of money)
• baskets and such for extra storage in various rooms
• rugs for the rooms were we install wood floors.

Okay, this list could go on and on forever. But I don’t think you are every done decorating a house, it just kind of evolves with you. :)

Think Thin Thursdays

Its that time of the week again. I think I have done pretty good this week. I have been drinking more water. I have slacked a little on the walking due to the weather but I have been logging minutes on my new wii fit.

Goals for this week:

1. Do 30 minutes of something (walking or wii fit) everyday.
2. Continue eating healthy snacks.
   
3. Stop finishing everything that's on my plate.
   

Think Thin Thursdays!

I can't believe its already Thursday! Yikes, were did the week go?? I have so much to post about but for now I will do my updates and goals for this next week. Remember Think Thin Thursdays?

Update of last weeks goals:

1. Stop drinking Mexican Coke (Jon insisted on buying a case last time we went to Costco and it is soo hard not to drink one with lunch when he is drinking one).

This one was hard but I did it! Jon and I had lunch together almost every afternoon last week and he kept asking if I wanted a coke. I started buying some sparkling water at the grocery store and I think that has been my saving grace...I feel like I am drinking a soda but I get all the health benefits of water.

1. Replace the coke with water and add more water throughout the day...I would like to refill my water bottle 3 times per day.

I did drink more water (thanks again to the sparkling water) but I still need to be drinking more...see new goals.

1. Walk the 2 mile loop around Town Lake at least twice during the week and the long loop (4.5 miles) at least once on the weekend.

I did it! I even did the small loop 3 times. Sunday rolled around and I still had not done the big loop so I forced myself to do it and it felt great!

New Goals for this week:

1. I am going to try to drink a glass of water with every meal (with the exception of breakfast because I love my glass of orange juice). Jon and I both like to try new beers with dinner but I am only going to do that on the weekends, M-F will be water.
   
2. I will snack healthy this week. Now that I am back in school I feel like I am eating more snacks...I am going to make sure they are healthy ones only from today on. Now I need to research some ideas for healthy snacks.
   
3. I am going to add a weights routine into my walking routine 3 days a week. I have a set of 5 pound weights so I am just going to add some exercises in while I am watching TV at night.

Next post preview: Nicki from The Kenningtons tagged me with The Honest Scrap Award!


Thanks! I'm so excited, Nicki's blog is great and we are both working off our "happy pounds" with Think Thin Thursdays! I will post more about it and tag 7 more people this afternoon.

Think Thin Thursdays

I got this idea from another blog I enjoy reading and I love it! Since my goal this year is to work off the "happy pounds" I have put on since our wedding I am going to join in.

Here are the rules:

• Set a goal for the week and post it in your blog.
  
• Write about your progress on you blog next week.
  

So...my goals for the week...

1. Stop drinking Mexican Coke (Jon insisted on buying a case last time we went to Costco and it is soo hard not to drink one with lunch when he is drinking one).
2. Replace the coke with water and add more water throughout the day...I would like to refill my water bottle 3 times per day.
3. Walk the 2 mile loop around Town Lake at least twice during the week and the long loop (4.5 miles) at least once on the weekend.
   

Next Thursday I will update about my progress. :)

Packed up and put away

I just finished putting up all our Christmas decorations and the tree. I know its so much more fun to put up the tree than it is to take it town, but I always like to think about where we were last year when the tree was up. What will we be doing next year when all the decorations come out? Will we still be living in this house? Will Jon still be working for Dell? Will I be on my way to supervising? I know I will have just finished grad school which will be great! I guess on everything else I will just have to wait and find out what God has planned for us this coming year.

Finally a lazy Sunday

Last night Jon asked me what we needed to get done today (Sunday). I stopped for a second and thought about it...then I realized we don't really have anything we have to get done today. I have a paper I need to edit, but I don't need to turn that in until Dec 1st. We don't even need to go to the grocery store. Its nice to finally have a day to just be lazy.

Since we don't have anything going on I am getting our good friend Aaron to take some family pictures this afternoon. I need to order our Christmas cards soon! Aaron and his friend are in the process of starting up a photography business and have been asking to take our pictures as practice for awhile. This seemed like the perfect opportunity. I am hoping to get some candid shots with Hiro too. I'll post some as soon as I get them. :)

Jon took me to see Twilight last night...he is such a good husband. I give the movie a C+. There were parts that seemed very cheesy and the effects are very poor. It was more like a made for TV movie in my opinion. Regardless I am glad I saw it and I still love the books (they get an A+).

Ok I am off to make some my great grandmothers French Toast...yum!

Goals for the week...month...you name it

This weekend I did some soul searching and came up with some new goals for myself.

• I am going to commit to working out for at least 20 min 3-4 times during the week and at least 1 hour once on either Saturday or Sunday.
  
• I am going to commit to doing 60/60 experiment at Gateway Community. This means that for 60 days every 60 minutes I am going to think about God.
• I am going to commit to going to church 3 out of 4 Sundays a month. Since Jon's soccer games are on Sundays we tend to get in the habit of skipping church in the mornings and just listening online. I don't think I am getting as much out of the lessons by just listening, I need to get up and go to church!
• Jon and I decided to give up cable (for me) and the Xbox (for him) and spend more quality time with each other
  

I am looking forward to making these things reality...I really think they will have a huge impact on how I feel day to day.

In other news...the mini 9 comes tomorrow! I can't wait to take it to class with me Wednesday night. Jon and I also booked a ski trip for December. We haven't taken a vacation since our honeymoon and we are both really looking forward to spending quality time the beautiful area of Lake Tahoe!

Here we go...

Okay, so I am going to try out this whole blog thing. Hopefully I will keep up and have enough to write about to make it interesting enough to read.

Where I'm at right now...
I have been married for a little over a year and my husband and I are loving living in Austin with our puppy, Hiro. I am in my second semester of grad school at Texas State. I am getting my masters in special education with a specialization in autism. Someday I hope to be a board certified behavior analyst and autism specialist. For now, I am in school and working as a private ABA therapist with two wonderful families! I truly love the kids I get to work with.